May 2014 Archives

Many people are frightened by the mere possibility that they could be pulled over for drunk driving. Even if they haven’t been drinking, that fear is still there because that know that officers in states across the nation, even here in Colorado, have falsified reports to make someone appear as if they had been drinking and driving when in fact they were sober at the time of the stop.

In some ways, he’s best known as the man who let the Denver Broncos’ Peyton Manning go. In other ways, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay is known as a figure given to sometimes controversial statements and occasional run-ins with law enforcement.

His arrest made headlines across the sporting world and his sentencing last week did, too. Denver Broncos director of player personnel Matt Russell was sentenced to seven months in jail after he pleaded guilty to DUI, careless driving resulting in bodily injury and driving with an open alcohol container.

Denver readers are familiar by now with the dilemma faced by regular users of medical marijuana: continue taking their medication and risk a criminal offense or avoid that risk by discontinuing the medication. With the legal limit for marijuana having been set at 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood of THC, more than a few medical marijuana patients in Colorado face this risk.

Colorado Public Radio in Denver recently broadcast an interesting report that included the story of a medical marijuana user. As the man drove on Interstate 70, he talked about his worry that he will one day be charged with DUID, or driving under the influence on drugs.

On behalf of Shazam Kianpour of Shazam Kianpour & Associates, P.C. posted in Field Sobriety Tests on Wednesday, May 21, 2014.

Denver’s KWGN reports that a special event is kicking off this Friday at 9 p.m. and wrapping up at 3 the next morning. What’s the big event? It’s the Aurora Police Department’s roadside sobriety checkpoint for this Memorial Day weekend.

Recently there has been an uproar in the community about the Driving Under the Influence (DUI) laws in Colorado. The legislature tried to create a law where if a person is guilty of DUI on a third offense in five years, or a fourth offense in 15 years, that person would be facing a class 4 felony. Members of the legislature and victims of injuries from drunk drivers, understandably, railed about how some people get killed or seriously injured due to this problem. Mike Johnston, a co-sponsor of the bill, seems to believe that one could have seven to eight DUIs and walk out of court on probation or a short stint in jail. I, as a criminal defense lawyer who handles many DUIs, have a different perspective.

Denver parents know that peer pressure can be a powerful motivator in a young person’s life. When parents send their kids off to college, most know that some experimentation is likely to take place in that young adult’s life. According to a new study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, that experimentation increasingly involves marijuana.

Denver's NBC TV affiliate and PBS station recently reported on their investigation into drivers facing legal problems. The stations said they analyzed 45,637 cases of DUI in Colorado in the past two years and found that about one out of every four of those cases involved a driver who was behind the wheel without a valid driver's license.

With the big change to Colorado marijuana laws that took effect on the first day of the year, law enforcement agencies have been vocal about their efforts to arrest people who drive while high. You might well recall the Department of Transportation’s attempt to make the point with its “Drive High, Get a DUI” PR effort.

Yesterday's first round of the NFL draft was full of anticipation, surprises and excitement for football fans. Denver got what many believe was an unexpected windfall when highly touted cornerback Bradley Roby fell all the way to the Broncos, picking 31st overall.

Though the bill passed the Colorado House with little opposition, it failed to even reach the floor of the state Senate for debate. Denver’s Sen. Mike Johnston said the felony DUI bill he co-sponsored died due to “shenanigans” in the Senate Appropriations Committee, which voted the measure down yesterday morning.

A Denver TV station recently exposed a list of “joke” computer passwords that are apparently shared among employees at Colorado’s Division of Motor Vehicles. Now that this private list has been made public, some DMV employees are squirming. Why? Because the list is filled with passwords making fun of the people who go to the DMV to get their driver’s licenses reinstated after a DUI conviction or other violations.

The use of the Internet or this form for communication with the firm or any individual member of the firm does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent through this form.